With the cancellation of 11 classes and enrollment increases in 15 classes, the College of Agriculture faces a tough Fall semester due to budget cuts.

The majority of the classes cut were in 300- and 400-level courses, said Eric Hoiberg, associate dean of agriculture. President Gregory Geoffroy and Provost Rollin Richmond gave the nine colleges a combined $1 million to help deal with cuts.

“The money was primarily invested in freshman-level classes,” Hoiberg said. “And the College of Agriculture did a pretty good job with spending that money.”

The college lost the equivalent of 18 faculty positions, 23 professional and scientific positions and 16 to 18 graduate student positions – only three of which were teaching assistants. The rest mostly were involved with research, Hoiberg said.

The three functions of the college are research, teaching and extension. There was a loss of $533,265 in teaching, and the college lost a combined $3-million in the three areas.

“The College of Agriculture is very well integrated,” Hoiberg said. “Research cuts also affect the classroom, and reduced activity in one of the key areas affects others.”

The alumni relations program also experienced cuts, which has affected donor relations, he said.

“That was one of the sacrifices we needed to make,” Hoiberg said. “We need to find a way to mend that.”

Associate Dean Gerald Klonglan retired this summer, but his position will not be filled due to the budget cuts, Hoiberg said.

“His duties were given to various administration and faculty members,” Hoiberg said. “His retirement left us with a hole that we’re still trying to fill.”

The study abroad portion of the college was affected by the budget cuts, but personnel said they don’t know how much, because the program changes every year, he said.

The costs of the programs to students have increased with tuition increases and budget cuts, Hoiberg said.

“Both the university and college support to team leaders has decreased as well,” he said.

“We don’t have as much incentive to offer them. The cost to students increases if we try to maintain the level of study abroad activities that we have had in the past.”

Although there have been losses and reorganization throughout the department, agriculture personnel are looking forward to the year ahead, Hoiberg said.

“The net impact is fairly substantial,” he said.

“We’re struggling, but we’re not down and out by any means. We’re looking at increasing efficiency, possible reorganization and trying to be as creative as we can.”

Faculty adviser Cary Trexler, associate professor of agricultural education, said many of his students have had difficulty finding classes or have been turned away, especially in the agriculture systems technology emphasis.

“I’ve had to turn students away from classes because of the budget cuts,” Trexler said. “I think that it makes each of their choices very important and difficult, because people want to take classes required for their major that are seldom offered and it’s very hard for them.”